New Release — Death Stalks Apache Oro by Sam Fadala

The killings only happen at night, and only to the fairest of the “working girls” who live in their haven, the Citadel, near the town of Apache Oro, Arizona Territory.

Arizona Ranger John Briggs is called in to investigate, along with local law enforcement officials. Failure to find the murderer haunts them all—he’s someone local…maybe someone they all pass on the streets of Apache Oro every day.

But this is no ordinary killer. He manages to vanish into thin air, like the skinwalkers the Navajos speak of. Is he mortal? Is there any way to stop him?

One by one, the men of Apache Oro are ruled out as suspects. When the murderer strikes again, killing someone close to Briggs and severely wounding him, he knows he’s getting close to discovering the killer’s identity. Ranger John Briggs doubles down on his vow to find this heinous criminal, as DEATH STALKS APACHE ORO…

EXCERPT

     Terrence hired an architect to transfer his idea from imagination to paper. The vision was soon a reality. When he was satisfied with the plan, he called builders, skilled craftsmen of individual trades. His was a dream born of childhood expressed only to Anna, an older, experienced lady who would oversee the women. Only she would know why this rich man created a safe place for “free-living” women.

     “They will be protected here,” he said. “The girls will all be princesses. For the girls, the women, that is, it will be a haven, a true home. They shall never be harmed. If so, woe to the man who dares, because a force will retaliate most severely.” His words were lace, but they were encased in iron. Terrence hired men who would do the retaliation. Since no miner had a wife, and since every miner extracted from rock a small fortune in gold, it followed that in short order the odd hombre’s dream home for “his ladies” was larger than the fine hotel, more lavish than the saloon, Thurgood’s showpiece patterned after a “ranch” in Texas.

     Citizens of Apache Oro thought of the town as charmed. Was there not, along with gold, a million years of clear, cold water piped into every home, every store, even the railway station? Was there not an ice house supplied by a never-ending slough not far away? Ice for preserving food. Ice for that keg of good beer. And was it not a town where women could walk night streets safely? 

     It was such a place. 

     But something evil would come to the little wooden town, and peace would be shattered like crystal glass.

     

New Release — Bounty Poachers (James P. Stone Series Book 3) by J. L. Guin

A life of dire circumstances gave need for boldness with a gun…

When Deputy U.S. Marshals James Stone and Jackson Millet recover from being wounded in a shoot-out, their first assignment is to track down two brothers who are bringing dead outlaws in under questionable conditions. When bounty hunters began to be killed as well, Stone and Millet realize they are dealing with bounty poachers.

Jasper and Jason Bain have run onto some hard luck. They need money, and in desperation, begin by robbing stagecoaches and individuals. They quickly progress to bringing in outlaws for the bounty—always dead. When they graduate to stealing the outlaws from the bounty hunters who have gone to the trouble to track them down, they must do away with all witnesses.

But bounty hunter Joe Grebbs was one man they couldn’t kill, and he’s coming after them. Can Stone and Millet get to the Bain brothers before Grebbs tracks them down and murders them for what they did to him? Though Stone is reluctant to put aside the ongoing quest to find his nemesis, Evelyn Laird, this job must come first—before more blood is spilled.

In a race against time, will Millet and Stone be able to prevent Grebbs from having his day of vengeance in the hunt for the BOUNTY POACHERS?

EXCERPT

     Weeks called out, “Better hurry up, Johnny, looks like something’s up across the street.”

     Curtis jerked his head briefly to glance out the window, but from deep inside the bank, he could not see the reason for his partner's alarm. He glared at Weeks, then turned to the manager and snarled, “Best you keep quiet until we leave.”

     Curtis snatched the bank bag from the manager, then made long strides to the door. He opened the door cautiously and scanned the businesses across the street. When he did not see anything that might raise an alarm; he stepped out. Weeks followed.

     The robbers hurried to their horses, grabbed the reins, and were ready to swing up into their saddles when a man's voice boomed from across the street.

     “You men, drop those pistols and get your hands up!”

     

New Release — The Scarred One by Tyler Boone (Charles Gramlich)

Scarred by a mysterious fire that killed his parents when he was seven, Trenton Banning grew up in a San Francisco orphanage. Ten years later he fled to the freedom of the Rocky Mountains. Now, he’s come to the town of Sun Falls, Wyoming, where a silver strike has triggered a boom. He isn’t after riches, though. He’s there for Jonathan Hunsinger, a ruthless businessman who may know something about the fire that orphaned Banning. 

Hunsinger has a beautiful daughter, Elizabeth. That complicates things for Banning. And after an attempt is made on his life, he realizes that someone is willing to kill to protect Jonathan Hunsinger’s secrets. There are plenty of suspects; Elizabeth is one. Besides trying to stay alive and solve a decade-old mystery, the young mountain man now has to wonder—is Elizabeth the woman of his dreams, or the architect of his nightmares?

EXCERPT

    “Ever seen anything so ugly in your life, Carl?”

    “Hell, Vin. I seen a skinned coon prettier ‘n that. Gotta wonder what his mama looked like.”

The two men standing at the makeshift bar laughed as they eyed the lean and scarred young man in buckskins who sat quietly at a table in the corner of the big tent. There’d been a silver strike at Sun Falls in Wyoming. Miners had poured in—and those who made their living off miners. A few timber structures had been hastily thrown up, but the strike was so recent that most businesses were still operating out of canvas tents, including this saloon.

    “Why don’t you boys have another drink?” the bartender said. “And leave that feller alone. He’s gonna do some huntin’ for me. I figure to start serving meals right soon.”

    The one named Carl turned to look at the speaker. Carl was a big man, inches over six feet and weighing a good two-thirty. The eyes in his stubbled face were dark and cold as anthracite. “Why don’t you just pour the drinks and mind your own business?” he said.

    The bartender, a wiry man of forty or so with a shock of red hair and a dirty white shirt and apron over woolen trousers, was barely half Carl’s size. And since none of the other patrons of the saloon seemed interested in supporting his stance on the issue, he poured whiskeys for the men and decided to mind his own business.
    “Ain’t like we’re hurtin’ the fella none anyway,” the one named Vin said. “Besides, maybe he don’t know he’s too damn ugly for purlite company. We’re educatin’ him.”

    “We couldn’t hurt him no more ‘n a look in the mirror would,” Carl added.

Vin, who was nearly as tall as Carl but much skinnier, had just slugged half his whiskey. He spewed most of it back out onto the dirt floor as he brayed with sudden laughter.

    The young man in the buckskins pushed back his chair and stood.

     

New Release — THE LAST WARRANT by Darrel Sparkman

When U.S. Deputy Marshal Luke Randall trails outlaw Johnny Ruskin across Indian Territory to Joplin, Missouri, he knows what he’ll find—a wide-open and boisterous mining town full of crooked gamblers, outlaws, lawmen dispensing justice for money, and more whorehouses than outhouses. 

He plans to find the killer and put him on a train to Fort Smith—or bury him. Ruskin is as ruthless as they come, and Luke has been doing some thinking on this assignment—does he want to spend the rest of his life wondering if every warrant he serves will be his last? When he meets Sarah McBride, she brings more to the table than a good meal—the offer of the kind of life he’s always dreamed of. 

Luke has to finish what he started with Johnny Ruskin, but death is all around him. Can he and Sarah get out of Joplin alive? No matter what, he must serve THE LAST WARRANT… 

EXCERPT

     White-hot pain tapped Luke Randall’s shoulder, like someone touched him with a branding iron as the deep-throated bark of a rifle echoed between the rocks and trees. Startled, he pitched from his saddle in an awkward dive that left him rolled up behind a limestone boulder with dirt and leaves sticking to his clothes. It would have been a softer landing if he had more meat on his bones, but he’d been blessed with big hands and feet, with a lot of skinny in between.

     His horse walked on a few paces, turned once to look at him like he’d lost his mind, and then commenced to munch on the tall grass next to the trail.

     Leaning against the rock, Luke rubbed his stinging shoulder, checking for blood. The bullet barely broke the skin, leaving a notch in the top of his vest. He’d paid a good chunk of money for leather, and now it had a hole in it. Served him right for not getting cloth like most others would. How would he sew up leather?

     He eased out one of his pistols, checking it for dirt. If he’d known his quarry was such a poor shot, he would have pushed harder to catch up. A couple of squabbling blue jays nearly drowned out the hoofbeats of the outlaw’s horse cantering away and Luke scrambled into the cover of the trees bordering the trail to wait. It wouldn’t be the first time someone sent their horse away as a decoy to set up an ambush. 

New Release — PEARL OF GREAT PRICE by John D. Nesbitt

Mr. Thorne, a mysterious traveler posing as a writer, arrives in a small Wyoming town—but why is he really there? When his colleague, Miss Greer, joins him, he discovers that the townsfolk can be downright unfriendly.

The two of them are after the worst kind of criminal—one who deals in artifacts of a grisly nature—and they intend to stop him, no matter what his position might be. Will their luck hold as they confront him—and discover what he keeps hidden in his basement?


EXCERPT

     “Are you going to put me in a story? I hope not.”
     Thorne waved his hand. “Not if you don’t want me to.”
     “I’ll tell you why,” said the proprietor. “I like customers, and company, of course, but I’m a bit shy all the same. I wouldn’t care to be in the public eye.”
     “I understand.”
     Roberts nodded. “You seem like a trustworthy chap, or I wouldn’t have told you as much as I have. I would be like one of these laconic natives.”
     “The kind that like to make fun of greenhorns?”
     “There are plenty of that type, of course.” Roberts flipped the pieces of pork and the slices of potato, sending up a sizzle. Turning to Thorne, he said, “I could show you something you won’t see much of out here, but you have to promise me you won’t put it in a story.”
     “You have my word.”
     “Follow me, then.”

New Release -- RESCUE TRAIL by Darrel Sparkman

Jake Rawlings was broken. One senseless killing and the loss of his wife left him without an anchor. Guilt and bitterness pushed him to turn in his badge. When he decides to follow the trail of a lone woman on the prairie, he’s led to a feisty widow and her daughter fighting for their lives. Saving them was easy. Can he save himself?

EXCERPT

     When the gambler’s hand touched the butt of his pistol, Jake tried to reason. “Slim. This is not a serious problem. If you need time to close your affairs here, we can do that.”

     “No need. There’s nothing left.”

     Jake watched the man as the odd statement put his nerves on edge. Nothing left? “This is not how you want to do this. Maybe I should walk outside and come in again when you’re in a better mood.”

     He watched the man grip his pistol and met his glassy-eyed stare. He’d seen that same look on men going to the gallows. “Don’t do this, Slim. There’s no need.”

     “I disagree.”

New Release — BLAKE’S RULE by John Lindermuth

Blake’s rule has always been to do what’s right…not what’s easy.

Range detective Sam Blake is after cattle rustlers—but when a beautiful woman is accused of murdering her employer, he has to step in and see justice done. Miriam had her reasons for the brutal killing, and though she’s not talking, Blake understands there’s more to this crime than meets the eye.

When the local sheriff, James Fremont, asks Blake to spirit Miriam and her two children out of town before a lynch mob comes for her, he agrees. But Cyrus Diebler, the influential rancher who is intent on seeing her pay for her crime, is not about to be stopped. He will go to whatever lengths he must to see her dead, though it means putting his own family in harm’s way.

As Blake and Miriam stay one step ahead of the relentless Diebler and his deadly henchmen, a relationship begins to build between them. When Blake learns the real story behind the murder, and the dark secrets of Diebler’s motivation to see Miriam dead, he vows he will protect her and her children at all costs—even if it means his own life.

EXCERPT

     Blake and the intruder spied one another at the same time. The man threw the shotgun up to his shoulder and Charley heard the click as the hammers were drawn back. Now, Charley had his opportunity. He grasped a stone and hurled it at the man, shouting as loud as he could at the same time.
     The stone fell short but it was sufficient distraction for Blake to draw his pistol and fire.
     The man grunted—unhumph! The raised shotgun went off, a noise so unexpected it made Charley jump. Pellets rattled against the poles of the cabin. Blake fired again. The man spun round and fell on his back in the grass.
     Charley walked stiff-legged, skirting around the man's body, pausing just long enough for a look that made his stomach turn. Blake called to him.
     "Run, Charley. Down there." He pointed to a gully beyond the corral that descended into the woods beyond.
     The boy ran. He heard shouts. More gunfire, then the sound of footsteps behind him.

     

New Release -- Blackberry Road by Jodi Lea Stewart #sundownpress #prairierosepub

Thirteen-year-old Biddy Woodson has learned how to sass and vinegar her way through life with eleven siblings in a sharecropper family in 1934 Oklahoma—even if it takes a heap of cussing to get through those hellish stacks of after-meal dishes.

Trouble sneaks in one afternoon like an oily Dustbowl twister when a beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest Mr. Leroy, a black man who lives in the nearby woods.

Biddy knows Mr. Leroy wouldn’t hurt a fly, and she’s convinced the sheriff looks down on sharecroppers and negroes. Trouble rides heavy on the summer air with family issues and Mr. Leroy’s predicament. How can Biddy see justice done for the gentle man she knows is innocent?

Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair, and finally, into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.  Though Biddy vows to see Mr. Leroy freed, she’s up against more than she bargained for. Help comes from an unlikely source, but can life ever be the same on BLACKBERRY ROAD?

EXCERPT

 I guess it shouldn’t matter why I turned into a big cusser or why, out of my eight brothers, I got my favorites…and two I kind of hate. You’ll find out about that soon enough. All I know is, we were minding our own business when trouble sneaked in one day like an oily twister on a sleepy afternoon. I reckon Nowata County, Oklahoma, is still yapping how we never had a summer like 1934, and I don’t blame them. Now, I want to tell you about it and how it changed everything—especially us.
      But I’m getting ahead of my own self.

 What’s important is the murder of a good man happened right under our noses, and that started a mystery in our neck of the woods like no one ever heard tell of, and probably never will again. That situation laid open truths about some folks like a hatchet tearing into new wood. Then Allen and Tommy—that’s two of my older brothers—cheated the devil hisself and didn’t die when the doctor same as said they had to. Who ever heard of such things?

 My story starts on May the fifth. I know the day exactly, on account of we’d been out of our school term for five days on the dot. Mr. MacGregor let us out early because of some important business he had to attend to in Oklahoma City. You can look in on us that day in May, and guess what you’ll see? It’s me, the girl, finally done washing and wrenching and drying a peak of hell’s dishes from our noon-day meal.

 Just so you know, doing the dishes for that mess of ornery brothers till my hands shrivel up is worse than cutting your own switch for a switching. Sometimes, it makes me so mad I cuss a blue streak and maybe a red one, too, only I sure don’t do it out loud.

      

New Release -- The Curse of the Body Snatchers: The Adventures of Jack Moon by Keith Souter

Victorian London is a dangerous city to be alone in at night for 12-year-old orphan, Jack Moon—and his business in those forbidding streets would make a grown man cringe. But his best friend, Danny, has just died, and Jack has promised him a burial in a haunted cemetery beside the woman who cared for them. 

Living in a rat-infested warehouse, Jack ventures out into the London fog, where he is waylaid by Professor Stackpool, a phrenologist. Can he really read a person's character by examining their head? He claims Jack is a prime example! But at a public demonstration, he announces Jack is a typical London urchin, destined for a life of crime, and Jack revolts.

Benevolent Sir Lionel Petrie and his granddaughter, Olivia, are outraged. To prove Stackpool wrong, the kind judge gives Jack a job at his home. Olivia and Jack become great friends, but something sinister is going on—and Olivia is becoming gravely ill over and over again. 

Someone is out to kill Jack, but who? And why? When tragedy suddenly strikes, Jack vows to save Olivia, and he is forced to enter the world of séances, ghosts, and ghouls. Will Jack live to bring Olivia back to her grandfather? Can they all survive the CURSE OF THE BODY SNATCHERS?

EXCERPT:

     A creature screeched from somewhere inside the graveyard and I stopped and stood as still as I could. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I shivered, “Oh, God, please don’t let there be ghosts!”

     I’m even more scared of ghouls than Danny was, which is saying a lot. All of us workhouse kids are scared of spirits. Those devils that were supposed to look after us saw to that. I reckon they thought it was part of our education. Especially that old villain, Ezra Keats, the workhouse master. He and his wife, the matron, were a couple of real bullies. He really liked to scare all of us kids, but especially the Moon boys, as they liked to call us.

My name is Jack Moon. Danny and I were orphans. Don’t know who our parents were. We never had a family life, you see. The St. George-the-Martyr Workhouse in Southwark was our home for most of our lives, apart from a spell in the Totfields House of Correction. I wouldn’t wish either of them on my worst enemy. That was why we ran away a year ago and lived on the streets, my little brother and me.

     In fact, ‘brother’, was not strictly true, for we were not related by blood. Both of us had been foundlings, abandoned children taken into the care of the St. George-the-Martyr Parish on the same night. They told us there had been a full moon then, so that was the name they gave us both. Danny was about a couple of years younger than me, but they had kept us together, as they often did workhouse kids. We had slept in neighboring beds in the boys’ dormitory, ate beside one another in the refectory and sat together in the workhouse school. During work sessions we always worked together. We had been as close as brothers ever since, which was why I used to think of him as my little brother. I felt that I had to look out for him.

     And then. Danny died. Before he did, he made me promise that I’d bury him near Kitty, the woman inmate at the workhouse who had been the nearest thing to a mother that either of us ever had. How could I refuse?

       

New Release -- Lawman’s Gun (James P. Stone Series Book 2) by J. L. Guin

James Stone never intended to become a lawman—he plans to track down the murderers of his best friend and mentor, Eldon Greyson, alone. And he looks forward to that day of reckoning, because whenever it comes about, there are a thousand and one ways to make the killers pay. But Fate steps in and gives Stone a chance he never counted on…

When his work in Eaton, Kansas, as a temporary lawman is over, he jumps from the frying pan into the fire when he takes a position as a deputy U.S. marshal with a friend, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jackson Millet. Millet convinces Stone that working as a lawman will give him more opportunities to run his old nemesis, a man named Laird, to ground—and make him pay for Greyson’s murder so many years ago.

A confrontation between the two lawmen and two bank robbers let Stone know he’s close to Laird—and he chafes at the restrictions the marshal’s job has placed on him, wanting nothing more than to ride to the nearby E.L. Ranch and take on the outlaw he’s waited to long to face. 

But when Laird and his partner, Bill Dubin, brazen it out with a visit to the marshals, they’re in for a blazing gun battle the likes of which the little town of Tascosa has never seen. They won’t go down without a fight—and they’re determined not to die by a LAWMAN’S GUN…

EXCERPT

     Thorsen and Slager nodded, then the three walked along the side length of the building until they reached the boardwalk fronting the bank. Hobbs stuck his head out past the building for a quick look up and down the street. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, and more importantly, no one had raised an alarm about why three masked men stood in an alley next to the bank.

     Hobbs motioned with his six-gun barrel for Slager to go ahead. Slager crept around the corner, then stepped onto the boardwalk and to the bank’s front door. He opened the door wide, then unfurled the sack and pitched it onto the bank’s floor. After he'd pulled the door shut, he hurried back to the alleyway where Hobbs and Thorsen waited.

     The loosed wasps created immediate chaos inside the bank. Loud voices and cursing echoed through the wall. One man yelled, “What the hell!” Another man’s booming voice proclaimed, “Son-of-a-bitch!” Still another, the sergeant in charge of the guards, instructed, “One of you men, see if you can get that bag and throw it out the door.”

     Almost instantly, the front door flew open and a suited rotund man dashed through it swatting at his face with his hands. A thin woman screamed, then burst through the doorway, frantically swatting at three or four big, mahogany-colored wasps which were the size of hornets. The insects buzzed around her head, dodging her swats. The wasps eventually got through her line of defense. One landed on the collar of her loose, full-length dress and sunk a stinger into her neck.

     The woman squalled louder, then dashed into the middle of the street, the dress not hampering her reckless flight as her skirt billowed. The unfortunate woman ran headlong into the path of a big freight wagon pulled by six mules traveling at a brisk pace. The startled driver struggled to get the animals stopped. But at least two of the mules trampled the woman to silence. Her bloody body lay mangled before the front wheel of the wagon.

     The three sack-covered men watched four men in blue uniforms charge out of the bank with six-guns in hand while swatting wasps with their other, as they fled the bank. Hobbs nudged Thorsen and Slager forward. The pair rushed up behind the stunned soldiers; raised the butts of their six-guns, and bludgeoned them, knocking both senseless before they hit the ground.

     

New Release -- PUSHED TOO FAR by J. L. Guin #NewRelease #SundownPress @prairierosepub #western

James Stone has been on his own almost all his life after the death of his parents early on. Kindly neighbor Eldon Greyson takes young James under his wing, making him a partner in his freighting business—until the fateful night when they’re robbed, and Greyson is murdered by “Laird” a mysterious man James vows to find and bring to justice.

Though years have passed, James has not given up on finding his mentor’s murderer. When he is caught in the middle of a train robbery, he sets out after the outlaws to recover the money they’ve stolen from him. Tracking them leads him to the small town of Eaton, where a bank robbery takes place minutes after he rides in.

With the town’s lawmen killed and wounded, Stone takes over temporarily, but all hell breaks loose with the arrival of Ike Langley’s gang of thieves—and James Stone finds he’s been PUSHED TOO FAR…

EXCERPT

     Branson stepped forward and shook out a gunny-sack. “Toss everything in here.”

     An elderly woman seated in the front row, hiked her chin in defiance. “What if I don’t choose to give up my possessions?” When she looked behind her at the men, hoping for support and not one moved, her hopes sagged.

     Clint Easy pointed the six-gun at her. “Then I’ll just shoot you. Now, follow orders.” Color drained from her face. Her hands trembled as she dug into her bag.

     Murphy Branson stepped in front of her holding the sack and jiggling it until she dropped in a small wad of bills and some coins.

     Branson spied the gold band on her finger and ordered, “The ring, too!”

     Tears pooled in the woman's eyes as she worked the wedding band off her finger then dropped it into the sack.

      

New Release -- RIVER WHISKEY by J.L. Guin

In a fiery accident, Eli Jenkins believes he has murdered Morton Crenshaw, the father of the girl he loves. When his friend, Whit, suggests they leave for California now, Eli is ready to go. The two young men “borrow” clothing and gear from the dry goods store where Whit has worked for many years, and light out on the run.

But their lives take a different turn when they become involved with seasoned traders, mountain men, Indians, and outlaws. Somewhere along the journey, the two tenderfoot greenhorns become men to be reckoned with—and, in their own right, respected.

When they return to Independence for Eli to own up to killing Angela’s father, Fate steps in again and turns their lives around. Will Eli claim Angela Crenshaw for his bride? Or will Whit and Eli head back on the rough-and-tumble trail West to chase their dreams of selling RIVER WHISKEY?

EXCERPT

      Once outside, Eli lay Morton on his back and looked at his battered, bloody nose. Morton’s eyes were half open, but unseeing. With growing concern, fear gripped Eli as he shook Morton’s shoulders, calling his name, but there was no response. A sudden chill swept through Eli and he lowered the man to the ground. He looked again at the downed man’s bloody face and broken nose, then pressed his ear to Morton’s chest. He could not detect a heartbeat over the crackling of the burning barn. Terrified now, he stood and stared, unbelieving, at the body before him.

     Angela’s mother was running toward the burning barn, calling out as she ran, “Morton! The barn is on fire!”

     Angela flung herself onto her father’s chest, “Daddy!” She sobbed. She turned her head to look at Eli then called to him, “Oh, Eli,” she said, then sputtered, “Just go! Go!”

     Eli’s mind was afire with indecision. He looked first to Angela, then to her approaching mother, then back to Angela once more.

     “Go!” Angela commanded again. Eli turned and ran into the shadows toward his horse. He was dumbfounded. Not only did he figure that he had killed Morton Crenshaw, but he was burning down the man’s barn, as well! 

     He did not think to seek other help. Panic had taken hold of him. Upon reaching his waiting horse, he grabbed the reins, mounted quickly, then tried to put distance between himself and the incident. His mind raced for solutions as frantically as the heaving mount under him was running. 

     

Now Available -- THE TITHING HERD by J. R. Lindermuth -- Giveaway!

When ex-lawman Lute Donnelly sets out on the trail of the ruthless gang of outlaws who murdered his brother, revenge is his only desire. But when he stumbles upon Tom Baskin, a youngster who has been duped into helping the outlaw band and then left behind, Lute reluctantly takes the boy under his wing—and begins to find his humanity again.

United in a common cause, the pair travel a dangerous trail in search of revenge and redemption. But when Serene McCullough, the widow Donnelly loves, begs him to help her son move the cattle herd gathered by cash-strapped Mormons as their church tithe, he can’t refuse her.

When the cutthroat gang kidnaps Serene to bargain for THE TITHING HERD, Lute and Tom find themselves pitted against insurmountable odds—with unexpected help coming from an old friend.

Lute’s desire for vengeance is trumped by his desperation to save the woman he loves at all costs—if he can live long enough to do it…

EXCERPT:

     It was near dusk when the rider came. Spinning on the rope, seeing the man approach, the boy thought, “He’s going to kill me,” and he told himself he didn’t care.
     Hanging by his heels from the limb of a cottonwood with his hands lashed behind so he couldn’t reach up to free himself, the boy, Tom Baskin, was helpless. Even were his hands free, he doubted he had the strength to haul himself up and get loose. For a moment, the rider sat motionless, watching. Then, as though just noticing the boy’s distress, his red face, bulged veins and popped eyes for the first time, the rider gigged his horse forward.
     The boy writhed, spinning around on the rope, and retracted the idea he didn’t care about dying. Clammy sweat rolled down his back, dripping off his nose and chin as he watched the man dismount and draw a knife in almost the same motion. Then the man’s strong arm encircled him and he felt the tension in his legs ease as the knife sawed through the rope. A black wave of vertigo swept over Tom as the man lowered him to the sweet-smelling grass. He opened his eyes and tried to speak, but the vertigo hit him again as the blood pulsing in his brain sought an equal level of pressure.
     “Take it easy, son. It’ll pass,” the man said, bending close. Tom felt the man’s warm breath, tangy with an odor of peppermint, fanning his face. He closed his eyes.

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Now Available — BLOOD ON BULL’S RUN by Kevin Crisp — Giveaway!

When Jed Deming sets out to bring home a beautiful runaway, he soon has his horse stolen and finds himself being chased by Paiute Indians. Wounded and barely able to make his escape, he comes upon a friendly camp that turns out to be not-so-friendly—leaving him at the mercy of a ruthless cutthroat gang of outlaws. But Jed has made a promise to Selena’s mother to find her—and though he’s young and inexperienced, he’s got more determination than many men twice his age.

Killing outlaws is not what he set out to do, but sometimes, a man has to test his own mettle to know what he’s worth… Will Jed be able to keep his word to find Selena in the rough mining camps she’s run to? His future depends on his success—and her decision to return with him, or stay with the life she’s chosen. The letter in his pocket explains everything—if Jed lives long enough to find Selena amid the BLOOD ON BULL’S RUN…

EXCERPT:

     Deming had never killed a man, but he didn't let himself dwell on that now. He had hunted plenty of game, and was sufficiently skilled with a musket. But the revolver was less familiar in his hand, and this enemy was new, as well.

     The Paiute paused in his tracks at the edge of the juniper. He studied the trees. His eyes swept over Deming, who could almost feel their dark, penetrating gaze.

     Deming pulled the trigger.

     There was an explosion and wood splintered a foot away from the Paiute's head. Unharmed, the Indian dashed to the ground and rolled out of view. That was the last straw for Rayo, who broke into a run out of the trees and up the canyon.

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New Release —THE PEST HOUSE by Clay More — Giveaway!

Twisted Knee, Ohio, 1866

Nothing could ever damp down the smell of the pest house.

Especially not in the sweltering heat of summer.

It was a strange, stomach-twisting smell that wafted from the two chimneys that belched smoke most days when the place was full of patients. And even when the smoke was dispelled by the wind the odor hung like a miasma around the old two-storied timber building a couple of hundred yards from the edge of the town of Twisted Knee.

But the smell was only a prelude to the evil that took place in the old building that housed the wounded, the diseased, and the hopeless. Though Doctor Cutler had his own faults, murder was not one of them—and that was going to be the death of him...

EXCERPT

     For those who had never ventured inside to visit a relative or friend the odor conjured up near-hellish images of Sister Fowler or one of the Twisted Knee Ladies of Charity who nursed the sick, or of the orderlies who carried patients in or bodies out to the attached mortuary, feeding the fires with clothing, bandages or bed linen that had gotten stained with blood or body fluids. And sometimes it smelled even worse…and folks forced themselves to stop imagining.

No one came near it unless they were unfortunate enough to come down with one or other of the less savory medical conditions that scared the bejeebers out of folks. It had a reputation as a place where you went to die.

     That was the image of the pest house at any rate, when old Doc Silas Jackson was the only medical man in Twisted Knee. Despite his age and his apparent lack of success in keeping his patients alive, the sixty-year-old, skeletally thin doctor in the stovepipe hat and stiff-collared shirts was held in affection and esteem by the good folk of the town. After all, as he regularly regaled patients and friends, he had given the town the best years of his life and had passed up the commission as a major that he had been offered during the war, just so that he could go on tending to his friends in town.

     Then Doctor Bruce Cutler came along and set up his shingle in town and the two doctors agreed to share the onerous task of looking after the pest house. Doctor Jackson, as the senior and already established physician, retained complete charge and responsibility for the lower ward and the single cubicle rooms leading off it, while Bruce was given charge of the upstairs ward.

     But Doctor Bruce Cutler was a different sort of doctor from Doctor Silas Jackson, and it was not long before they had the first of many very public fallings out, mainly about medicine and the way the pest house was run. The result was that they hated each other with a passion. And everyone knew it.

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New Release -- The Half-Breed Gunslinger IV: WANTED DEAD by Bret Lee Hart -- Giveaway!

While The Half-Breed Gunslinger fights for his life against infection from a gunshot wound, there are wanted posters being printed with his name and likeness. A $5,000 bounty on the head of Hunter James Dolin is more than enough money to attract men to the swamps of south Florida. The ending of the Civil War turns soldiers into bounty hunters as the North feels the need to cleanse the South, and men find ways to make a living.

The gunslinger's woman carries his child; Helen will need help from their close friends as her preg-nancy progresses. Jebidiah and Walt will protect Helen at all costs with their experience and grit. Bodie and Bird, with their own skills, will be by their side in whatever comes their way.

To their surprise, unexpected rivals come after the newly named Dolin Family.

EXCERPT:

     "What in the hell is it now?" He walked over to the window and peered out; he was speechless. Bird came alongside him and his mouth dropped before he spoke quietly. "Holy shit, Bode!"

     Helen squeezed in between the two men to see what was there. She could hardly believe her eyes. Down below was none other than Sam Jones, Apayaka Hadjo Chief of the Miccosukee, and twenty of his warriors, all looking up at them.

     "Well, it's been nice knowin' ya," said Bodie in a matter-of-fact tone.

     "Yep, back at ya," Bird replied, with a voice steady, but quiet.

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New Release -- BOUND FOR TEXAS by Kit Prate -- Giveaway!

Cattle…Dust…and Death…

When ex-gunman Trace Belden decides to buy some cattle and settle down on his own Texas spread, he gets more than he’s bargained for—and not in a good way. An ongoing confrontation with Cord Bishop, a man he once thought of as his best friend, taints every minute of the trail-drive back to the Belden ranch—with the loss of several prize Hereford cows and a violent ambush of Trace’s crew.

Though Bishop believes he holds all the cards—Trace’s beautiful ex-wife and son—he soon learns that Trace won’t lie down; even if it means never seeing his son again. Trace is determined to protect his own—the herd, his men, his little brother, and a young boy who has run away to join the Belden crew.

As disaster strikes again and again, Trace realizes that the vendetta with Bishop can only result in tragedy and loss—and he vows not to lose either of the young boys who mean so much to him. But when Trace’s younger brother, Lonny, begins to carry a gun, he knows he has to rein the wild youngster in before someone gets killed—if it’s not already too late.

It’s a long way back, with death and dreams awaiting the Beldens as they head home— BOUND FOR TEXAS…

EXCERPT

"It's pure Hell, ain't it? All this waiting?" Lon Belden lounged against the far wall; at fifteen, a younger, more compact version of the other. Seventeen years separated the brothers; that, and a difference in temperament and experience that creased one's face with the hardness of times gone by, and this one with the quick lines of boyish laughter.

"Quit saying ain't, and stop swearing." Trace spoke with a tired impatience, his voice taking on the tone of a weary parent.

"You could have left me with the crew." Lon's head came forward slightly as he tugged at his tight collar. An oily smear spotted the mirror that hung on the wall at his back. He saw the spot and tried to rub it away with his sleeve, succeeding only in making it bigger.

"Sure," Trace said ruefully. "I left you with them. Last night. That's why I had to bail you out of jail this morning."

Lon grinned across at his brother. "We had one grand old time, Trace," he said, his face coloring. "There's this girl down at that cantina by the tracks got…" He cupped his hands in front of him.

"Madam will see you now." A strange voice cut into the young man's remembrances; clipped, precise. Disapproving. "If you…gentlemen will follow me." The man gestured for them to fall in behind him, his nose in the air as if he smelled something unpleasant. Lon shoved himself away from the wall and shouldered his way past Trace, imitating the butler's mincing walk. Belden lifted a well-polished boot and applied it to the kid's rear end.

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